We performed a comparison between AirMagnet Survey and NetAlly EtherScope nXG based on real PeerSpot user reviews.
Find out in this report how the two Network Troubleshooting solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI."The most valuable feature is the predictive survey. The antennas' RF patterns are reflected correctly on the drawing when preparing predictive heat maps."
"It allows us to prepare more real designs. Later, we validate them with actual surveys."
"The heat maps are quite good, and some features are easy to use."
"The predictive survey is the most valuable feature. I use it quite often."
"The addition of the AirMapper software on the nXG and our AirCheck G2s has helped a lot because we're mostly not drilling down into the data. Local managers only need to see the coverage on their end and whether there are performance bottlenecks. These things are easy enough for us to ascertain with iPerf."
"The most valuable features are the survey, spectrum analysis, and reporting."
"Customer service is great."
"It is reliable and easy to use (user-friendly). The heat mapping, passive network surveying, and doing the heat mapping of a building's wireless network allows me to see what level of coverage an area has."
"EtherScope has made our networking staff more productive. We have remote locations and can use the tools to collaborate. I have other people looking at it at the same time that I am looking at it. With the uploading ability, I can have more eyes on the project at the same time, instead of just one set of eyes."
"In terms of the solution's full line rate 10-gigabit capability, my other 10 Gb test equipment is much bigger, bulkier, and heavier. One of my ways of assessing the nXG was to compare it with what I knew to be tried and true on 10-gig to make sure that they matched, and they did. It very quickly got my trust. The fact that it can do 10 Gb, without dropping a packet from what I've seen so far — and we used it a lot in that first three months — tells a pretty good story."
"The solution’s AirMapper Site Survey app is extremely easy to use. We give it to the technicians and send them out to go do that function. We hand it to the technician who goes onsite, then they take a photo of the overall area of a floor plan and are able to go do that site survey without almost any instruction from any engineer. So, it is very usable for beginner-type techs."
"It clearly depicts the information we're looking for on a 10Gig testing, and we can also verify 100Gig links with it between our routing sites."
"Another good thing I really liked was that it would not only tell me the IP address, but it would tell me more info. It would grab the CDP off of the CDP profile and read all the info it could get, so I knew what I was looking at."
"The most valuable features are LANBERT, Discovery, and AirMapper. AirMapper is the best. Both Discovery and AirMapper are very easy to use because you can view all the problems on a single screen. If you quickly need more details about your network, then AirMapper is the best."
"One of the key measurements that we use out of the device is the channel utilization measurement, how much traffic is on the air in a given channel. That's the most valuable feature for us. The ability to make a very fast measurement of how much traffic is on the air is a key value. Otherwise we'd have to do a packet capture and do some analysis. It speeds up our testing."
"Being able to do a Wi-Fi walk-around survey with a handheld tool is one of the most valuable features of NetAlly EtherScope nXG."
"When you conduct an active survey and then want to use it for design work, it's actually not very useful."
"The surveying features are in need of improvement, along with general usability."
"Printouts are JPEG printouts. The AirMagnet software is proprietary. I can't send my customers a file, because it is AirMagnet file, even for building projects. I can only send JPEGs or screenshots of heat maps."
"But it's definitely a more expensive solution than other ones."
"It would be nice to have some more training resources for younger techs. We can use them if we need some assistance, but that usually requires one of us who knows what we're doing to calibrate the programs properly."
"AirMagnet Survey doesn't cover certain devices in the system."
"Less time consumed doing the real surveys."
"It'd be nice if it was cheaper, however, you get value for your money."
"The one thing that it doesn't do well, when it's doing airtime utilization measurements, is that it will classify things as non-802.11, and that isn't correct. What it could do better is make sure that it classifies all traffic that's in the air correctly."
"For my usage, I thought the training would be maybe an hour, but I ended up having to spend an additional four to eight hours just to make sure I could adequately translate the data. So, using the tool was not that difficult, but translating the data is where there is a breakdown in what you are demonstrated and what you can actually do."
"The only improvement I can come up with is the battery life. If they could improve the battery life, that would be great."
"AirMapper is very quick and easy once everything is on there, but I would like to see an improvement on how you get things on there. Currently, rather than being able to build up buildings or a site of things, every map is an individual piece. We should be able to set up an AirMapper survey easily and more effectively. At the moment, we just have separate floor plans. It'd be great to be able to build a building and tell where different floors are so that if it hears an AP on the floor below, it doesn't put two APs, one on that floor and one on the other floor, and it knows that there are two floors here. One is on top of the other, and it won't put the AP at both places. It would put it on one of the floors where it would be strongest. This would be one of the biggest improvements."
"The reporting could be better, with more accurate measurements of loss over cables, impedance, etc. The mapping also needs to be improved. You should be able to do free formatting of the topology."
"If I could reset it remotely, meaning reboot the unit, that would be helpful. One time, the test would not respond; the script would lock up. I had to go and manually reboot it. If I could have sent a command to reboot and it would have automatically connected to the wireless, that would have made it perfect. That was the only thing that it did not do."
"The only issue that I have ever had is the battery life. It does drain a little bit quickly... While it's true that by the time I'm finished with my assessment it's usually dead, I have usually finished what I need to do and everything has been pushed to Link-Live. But occasionally, I might need a backup battery if I need to do something for multiple hours."
"I use the NetAlly site and one of the things I don't like about the topology map, something I wish I could fix, is that the map kind of jiggles if you don't adjust any of the settings."
AirMagnet Survey is ranked 8th in Network Troubleshooting with 38 reviews while NetAlly EtherScope nXG is ranked 1st in Network Troubleshooting with 22 reviews. AirMagnet Survey is rated 8.2, while NetAlly EtherScope nXG is rated 9.0. The top reviewer of AirMagnet Survey writes "It fixes so many problems quickly that we don't regret spending more on high-end tools than most companies". On the other hand, the top reviewer of NetAlly EtherScope nXG writes "Handheld form factor, intuitive interface that is easy to use, helps us quickly troubleshoot network problems". AirMagnet Survey is most compared with Ekahau Site Survey, Aruba Wireless, AirCheck G3 and iBwave Wi-Fi, whereas NetAlly EtherScope nXG is most compared with LinkRunner, AirCheck G3 and LinkSprinter. See our AirMagnet Survey vs. NetAlly EtherScope nXG report.
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